In a typical magnetic storage system, digital data is stored in a series of concentric circles or spiral tracks along a storage medium. Data is written to the medium by positioning a read/write head assembly over the medium at a selected location as the storage medium is rotated, and subsequently passing a modulated electric current through the head assembly such that a corresponding magnetic flux pattern is induced in the storage medium. To retrieve the stored data, the head assembly is positioned anew over the track as the storage medium is rotated. In this position, the previously stored magnetic flux pattern induces a current in the head assembly that can be converted to the previously recorded digital data.
A servo control system is used to move the read/write head assembly across the storage medium as the medium is rotated, and may also control the rotation speed and the frequency at which servo data is read. The read/write head assembly must be positioned correctly by the servo control system to properly read stored data. Patterns stored in servo regions or servo wedges on the storage medium enable the servo control system to position the read/write head assembly.
Servo wedges may be divided into multiple zones from the inner diameter to the outer diameter of the storage medium in order to improve efficiency. In contrast to a single-zone servo system, which has a constant servo speed but varying channel bit density from inner diameter to outer diameter, a zoned servo system has similar channel bit density but varying servo speed across zones.
However, when the read/write head assembly moves across a zone boundary and cannot locate the patterns in the servo wedges, it is difficult to determine whether this is due to poor signal quality or incorrect servo speed settings.